Life Insurance Decline For ADD or Anxiety? Get Real!

What a cold, cruel world we live in. Most of the time I am not surprised when someone calls because they they have been approved at a standard rate, sometimes a little worse for things like ADD, ADHD, mild anxiety or depression. A few days ago I got a call from someone who had been working with an online agency. She was quoted standard because of a minor mood disorder and before she even took the exam or medical records were ordered she was called and told that she had been declined.

I can see the scene now. Some new agent working in one of the mega agencies. He gets all excited because he wrote this application and it’s decent premium and then the supervisor walks up and whacks his bubble with a tennis racket. “We don’t do mood disorders. You never know where they’re going to go and at best they take 3 times more work than someone with no health issues. Call her back up and tell her you talked to an underwriter and it’s going to be a decline.” This is just wrong on so many levels.

I started writing that post yesterday and got all of my trial offers back today, virtually all offering preferred plus. Coincidentally my client called the other agent to get a copy of the application to see if there was some misprint on it that led to this out of thin air decline. The agent said he had the application reviewed and they thought it might have been declined due to mononucleosis in college. She had become jaundiced and they did several liver tests to make sure she didn’t have hepatitis, all of which came back normal. She had explained all of this to the agent before, but somehow something changed and he was having it reviewed to see if they could move ahead with the application. He said there might also be a mini exam.

The fact that this got so messed up just comes right back around to choosing the right agent. You really need someone who listens and understands what he or she is hearing. Even if this client had been diagnosed with hepatitis and severe anxiety it would have likely been approved as long as the treatment for the hepatitis had been successful and the anxiety was under control. But none of that was even remotely correct and this poor client was told she was declined. How humiliating and all because the agent didn’t have a clue.

I am by no means the only agent in the country that knows impaired risk life insurance underwriting, so how do you know you’re in the right place before things get messed up? If the agent asks questions and doesn’t seem to understand the answers, here’s his sign. If the agent tells you that you are declined without submitting an application, having an exam done or at least shopping your case, here’s his sign. And honestly, if the agent seems to be too clueless to be real, here’s his sign and say good night.

Bottom line. This is a preferred plus case that the other agent lost because they didn’t know their job. This is a humiliating scenario the client had to endure because the agent didn’t know their job. If you have any questions or have been treated oddly by an agent or declined without a fair hearing, call or email me directly. Let’s talk.